IRELAND-THE DEASE MEMORIAL.

I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has lately received from the Standing Committee of the Meath Hospital and County Dublin Infirmary a statement calling attention to the position of "the Dease Memorial" at the time of Mr. O'Reilly Dease's death; and, whether, taking all the facts into consideration and the nature of the charity, ho can see his way to grant such a sum out of the estate of the late Mr. Dease as will suffice to complete the memorial?

The statement in question was received a year ago, and the hospital authorities were informed at the time that the trustees under Mr. Dease's will had no evidence before them which, in their opinion, could constitute a legal claim on the part of the hospital, and, in the absence of such legal claim, had no power to divert any portion of the estate from the purposes for which it was devised by the testator. I have since examined the case carefully, and can find no adequate evidence that the hospital authorities have any moral claim upon the estate that would justify a vote being taken on their behalf. The evidence submitted to me—namely, the correspondence between them and Mr.
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Dease, does not show that he intended to pay the whole cost of the memorial, but seems to me to point to the opposite conclusion. Mr. Dease expressly warned them against launching out into too great expenditure before obtaining the necessary funds, and the letters also make mention of money being collected for the work, which points to the fact that Mr. Dease by no means held himself responsible for the whole cost.